Economic Sanctions on Iraq: Tool for Peace, or Travesty?

Q3 Social Sciences
S. Zurbrigg
{"title":"Economic Sanctions on Iraq: Tool for Peace, or Travesty?","authors":"S. Zurbrigg","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1108","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Despite triggering one of the largest civilian death tolls in modern history, the policy and human consequences of economic sanctions on Iraq between 1990-2003 remain largely unexamined. This lack of scrutiny mirrors the euphemism and mis-information surrounding the embargo itself and the Oil-for-Food (OfF) program ostensibly adopted to protect Iraq's civilian population. But it also reflects incomprehension among Western publics - long removed from the realities of hunger and economic destitution - of the intimate link between economic conditions and mortality. Iraq suffered an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths because of a catastrophic undermining of civilian livelihood triggered by the embargo; an outcome termed slow famine in the demographic literature. With much of the population fully dependent on daily food rations of less than 21 cents per person for much of the sanctions period, OfF `relief' was inherently incapable of substituting for a functioning civil economy. Recent positive accounts of the impact of OfF, in the form of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food Program (Volcker Report), are refuted by close analysis of malnutrition and mortality rates across the sanctions period. The example of Iraq reveals the danger in treating economic sanctions as a cheap, `non-violent' tool for conflict resolution. In reality their deadly power is terrorizing for societies not protected from their application by permanent member status on the UN Security Council, a threat which continues to generate global insecurity. The Iraq experience reveals how current, narrowly framed, international law prohibitions on starvation as a weapon of war need to be extended to cover interference with civilian livelihood and hence access to food.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2007-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1108","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1108","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Despite triggering one of the largest civilian death tolls in modern history, the policy and human consequences of economic sanctions on Iraq between 1990-2003 remain largely unexamined. This lack of scrutiny mirrors the euphemism and mis-information surrounding the embargo itself and the Oil-for-Food (OfF) program ostensibly adopted to protect Iraq's civilian population. But it also reflects incomprehension among Western publics - long removed from the realities of hunger and economic destitution - of the intimate link between economic conditions and mortality. Iraq suffered an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths because of a catastrophic undermining of civilian livelihood triggered by the embargo; an outcome termed slow famine in the demographic literature. With much of the population fully dependent on daily food rations of less than 21 cents per person for much of the sanctions period, OfF `relief' was inherently incapable of substituting for a functioning civil economy. Recent positive accounts of the impact of OfF, in the form of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food Program (Volcker Report), are refuted by close analysis of malnutrition and mortality rates across the sanctions period. The example of Iraq reveals the danger in treating economic sanctions as a cheap, `non-violent' tool for conflict resolution. In reality their deadly power is terrorizing for societies not protected from their application by permanent member status on the UN Security Council, a threat which continues to generate global insecurity. The Iraq experience reveals how current, narrowly framed, international law prohibitions on starvation as a weapon of war need to be extended to cover interference with civilian livelihood and hence access to food.
对伊经济制裁:和平工具还是嘲弄?
尽管造成了现代历史上最大的平民死亡人数之一,但1990年至2003年期间对伊拉克的经济制裁的政策和人类后果在很大程度上仍未得到审查。这种缺乏审查反映了围绕禁运本身的委婉语和错误信息,以及表面上为保护伊拉克平民而采取的石油换食品(OfF)计划。但这也反映了西方公众对经济状况和死亡率之间的密切联系的不理解,他们长期以来一直无视饥饿和经济贫困的现实。由于禁运对平民生计造成灾难性破坏,伊拉克估计多死亡150万人;这种结果在人口统计学文献中被称为缓慢饥荒。在制裁期间的大部分时间里,大部分人口完全依赖每人每天不到21美分的粮食配给,因此,OfF的“救济”本质上无法取代正常运转的民间经济。最近,石油换粮食方案独立调查委员会(沃尔克报告)对OfF的影响作出了积极的描述,但对整个制裁期间的营养不良和死亡率进行了仔细分析,驳斥了这一说法。伊拉克的例子揭示了将经济制裁作为解决冲突的廉价“非暴力”工具的危险。事实上,它们的致命力量对那些没有受到联合国安理会常任理事国地位保护的国家来说是恐怖的,这是一个继续产生全球不安全的威胁。伊拉克的经验表明,目前框架狭窄的国际法禁止将饥饿作为战争武器,这一禁令需要扩大,以涵盖对平民生计的干扰,从而包括对获取粮食的干扰。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
CiteScore
0.60
自引率
0.00%
发文量
8
期刊介绍: Muslim World Journal of Human Rights promises to serve as a forum in which barriers are bridged (or at least, addressed), and human rights are finally discussed with an eye on the Muslim world, in an open and creative manner. The choice to name the journal, Muslim World Journal of Human Rights reflects a desire to examine human rights issues related not only to Islam and Islamic law, but equally those human rights issues found in Muslim societies that stem from various other sources such as socio-economic and political factors, as well the interaction and intersections of the two areas. MWJHR welcomes submissions that apply the traditional human right framework in their analysis as well as those that transcend the boundaries of contemporary scholarship in this regard. Further, the journal also welcomes inter-disciplinary and/or comparative approaches to the study of human rights in the Muslim world in an effort to encourage the emergence of new methodologies in the field. Muslim World Journal of Human Rights recognizes that several highly contested debates in the field of human rights have been reflected in the Muslim world but have frequently taken on their own particular manifestation in accordance with the varying contexts of contemporary Muslim societies.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信